- Oct 2 30th Country Music Association Award: Brooks & Dunn win
- Oct 3 Thunderdome in Tampa Bay renamed Tropicana Field
- Oct 4 BPAA US Bowling Open by Dave Husted
- Oct 4 BPAA US Women's Bowling Open won by Liz Johnson
- Oct 4 Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi breaks record for fastest hundred in one-day cricket history; in first ODI innings, Afridi savages Sri Lanka for 102 in KCA Centenary Tournament match in Nairobi; reaches 100 in 37 balls
- Oct 4 Left wing Mike Donnelly becomes first player in NHL history to play for all 3 New York teams (Sabres, Rangers & Islanders) when he suits up for the NY Islanders in a 1-0 loss in Los Angeles
- Oct 5 Cleveland Indians strike out 23 Baltimore Orioles in 12 innings in 4-3 ALDS win at Jacobs Field; Orioles win series, 3-1
- Oct 5 New York centre fielder Bernie Williams homers from each side of the plate as the Yankees beat Texas, 6-4 to win the AL Division Series, 3 - 1
Event of Interest
Oct 6 Bob Dole and President Bill Clinton meet in their 1st debate
Bill Clinton
Event of Interest
Oct 7 Rupert Murdoch launches Fox News with Roger Ailes as CEO
Rupert Murdoch
- Oct 9 Howard Stern's book "Miss America" released in paperback
- Oct 10 "Sex & Longing" opens at Cort Theater NYC
- Oct 10 Cornerstone dedication for Holocaust Museum in NYC
- Oct 11 Ford buys rights to name Detroit domed stadium for $40 million
- Oct 13 "Big" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 193 performances
- Oct 13 NY Jet Nick Lowrey breaks Jan Stenerud NFL field goal record at 374
- Oct 13 Yanks (3) & Orioles (3) combine to tie play off record of 6 HRs
- Oct 13 British Williams driver Damon Hill wins season ending Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka; becomes first son of a World F1 Drivers Champion (Graham Hill 1962, 68) to win title himself; wins by 19 points from Jacques Villeneuve
- Oct 13 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 1
- Oct 14 Braves blow out St Louis, 14-0 in an NLCS game
- Oct 14 Dow Jones closes over 6,000 for 1st time (6,010)
- Oct 14 Packer Chris Jacke kicks longest field goal to end overtime (53 yds)
- Oct 16 Eighty-four people are killed and more than 180 injured as 47,000 football fans attempt to squeeze into the 36,000-seat Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City.
- Oct 17 "Taking Sides" opens at Atkinson Theater NYC
- Oct 17 MLB National League Championship: Atlanta Braves beat St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 3
- Oct 19 Braves beat NY Yanks by record tying 11 runs, 12-1 in a World Series
- Oct 20 "Summer & Smoke" closes at Criterion Theater NYC
- Oct 20 Annika Sörenstam wins LPGA Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf
- Oct 20 Braves Andruw Jones is youngest player to homer in World Series
- Oct 20 Wasim Akram (257) & Saqlain Mushtaq gets cricket Test record 313 for 8th wicket, vs Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura
- Oct 22 NY Yankee Bernie Williams hits record tying 7th post season HR, as Yanks tie record of 6th straight post season road win (en route to 8)
- Oct 23 New York Yankees set record recovering from 0-6 in Baseball World Series game to beat Braves, 8-6 in Game 4 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium; record 7th straight post-season road win
- Oct 24 Hasan Raza makes Test Cricket debut for Pakistan age 14 yrs 238 days
- Oct 24 Last game at Atlanta County Fulton Stadium. Yanks win record 8th straight road post season win (with no loses)
- Oct 25 Frank, brother of Yank manager Joe Torre, receives a heart transplant
- Oct 26 Breeders' Cup Horse Racing, Woodbine Racetrack; winners: Lit de Justice, Storm Song, Jewel Princess, Da Hass, Boston Harbor, Pilsudski, Alphabet Soup
- Oct 26 New York beats Atlanta Braves, 3-2 in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium to win 23rd Baseball World Series; Bronx Bombers' reliever John Wetteland MVP
- Oct 27 US beats Japan, 21½-14½, at Nichirei International Golf Tournament
- Oct 28 Goa upset Karnataka to win their 1st Ranji Cricket Trophy game ever
- Oct 30 Exxon confirms that it is in talks with state-owned Qatar General Petroleum Corporation concerning the application of new technology to convert natural gas to petroleum products
- Oct 31 Transportes Aéreos Regionais (TAM) Flight 402, a Fokker F100, crashes into several houses in São Paulo, Brazil killing 98 including 2 on the ground.